January 29 -- Florida Power & Light Co. plans to invest between $400 million and $420 million to build three solar energy farms next year and aims to recover those costs from ratepayers, executives said. >>View Article

January 28 -- The push by some politicians and the oil industry to expand offshore drilling to the Atlantic is the wrong way to create jobs and lower gas prices. In fact, offshore wind development off the East Coast could produce twice as many jobs and energy as offshore drilling while alleviating the risk of catastrophic oil spills.

Oceana's recent report, Offshore Energy by the Numbers, An Economic Analysis of Offshore Drilling and Wind Energy in the Atlantic, considered the amount of economically recoverable oil and gas in the Atlantic and made conservative estimates of offshore wind development to compare these two activities. We found that offshore wind development in the Atlantic would produce roughly 91,000 more jobs and could generate enough energy to power over 115 million homes in the next 20 years, which is almost double the job creation and energy potential of Atlantic oil. >>View Article

January 28 -- Add Whirlpool to the list of corporate purchases of wind power that have come to the realization that on-site wind generation can significantly reduce electricity usage.

According to Whirlpool, the $18 million Finday Wind Farm, powered by five Goldwind GW 87/1500 wind turbines, is expected to begin in the spring. One Energy provided financing for the project. >>View Article

January 27 -- Scientists who tested a floating windmill off the coast of Maine a year ago have gathered enough data to build a full-size model that can be moved to take advantage of high winds.

The U.S. Department of Energy is using lasers attached to buoys to measure wind speeds at differing altitudes off the coast of Virginia Beach to learn how cost-effective it would be to harness the higher winds above sea level to power wind turbines. >>View Article

January 27 -- When I first visited Washington state more than a decade ago as journalist covering Microsoft, Amazon, and other companies, I remember being impressed with the state's idyllic blend of economic growth and environmental splendor. >>View Article

January 27 -- Wind energy-generated electricity provided 10.6% of Texas power in 2015, the first time it has reached double digits in the state’s power mix, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The increase was largely in generation from growing Panhandle and West Texas capacity and due to delivery by the new Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) transmission lines serving it. >>View Article